Surfacing
by FutureMrsStabler
Summary: When Owen's life is on the line, time stands still for every person who cares for him.
1. Chapter 1

**I claim no ownership to ****_Greys Anatomy _****or any of its characters or plots.**

The ER was slammed to capacity that night and showed no signs of slowing. A tractor trailer had fishtailed on Interstate 5, taking out at least 12 vehicles in its path and causing a multiple vehicle pileup behind it as drivers tried to avoid it.

When he saw a fifth ambulance heading toward the already overloaded emergency bay, Owen stopped short from where he was hurrying out to help unload the others and turned back inside.

He spotted intern Casey Parker first, heading around the desk to answer one of the multiple ringing phones.

"Parker!" he barked, watching the young man's head snap up toward him in surprise. " Get on the phone to all the area hospitals. Tell them we're maxed and can't take any more ambulances! "

Parker snapped straight up. "Yes, sir, Major!"

Owen saw the young man physically stop himself from saluting. He rolled his eyes but couldn't suppress a smirk.

Meredith and Helm came rushing past him pushing a gurney. A woman lay on it moaning through an oxygen mask.

"Out of the way!" Grey ordered, trying to maneuver past the throng of nurses and doctors blocking them.

Next to the desk, Kepner was swiping frantically through the iPad she held, trying to categorize the most urgent injuries.

"Take this one to Trauma 3," she yelled over the hubbub of noise, placing a hand briefly on the rail of a gurney being rolled past her. The boy on it was severely burned and barely conscious. " Someone page Dr. Avery, stat. "

Maggie was bringing up the rear of the gurney. "I'm on it," she replied briskly.

Dr. Webber raised his head from where he was examining a man on one of the beds nearby. "I need Nuero over here!"

* * *

Outside, Owen pulled open the door to another ambulance.

"65 year-old female, blunt force trauma to the head," the EMT, Nicole , reported from inside. Owen stepped in and immediately began assessing the patient. "Unrestrained passenger of a car behind the semi. Airbag stopped her from being ejected, but she hit the dashboard going 60 miles an hour. Pupils unequal and pulse is 38 over 60."

Already seeing how dire the woman's condition was, Owen quickly pulled the gurney out and rushed it inside.

* * *

Five hours later, into the very early morning hours, Owen stood next to April and breathed a sigh, looking at the finally-controlled emergency room. Most of the beds were empty and the remaining patients were not urgent. The floor was empty of doctors and only a handful of nurses were around.

Kepner rolled her shoulders, echoing the sentiment of relief. "That was insane," she said tiredly. She blew through her cheeks and checked her watch. "How long are you here till?"

"All day," he replied. He saw the question she wanted to ask. It was obvious she was about to drop on her feet. "Go get some sleep. I'll page you if I need you."

She smiled gratefully. "Well, make sure you get some rest-"

Before she could finish her sentence, a man being led past them from the waiting room stopped short and abruptly vomited right into Owen's shoes. She grimaced as he closed his eyes briefly in exasperation.

"-Yourself," she finished lamely.

Owen scrunched up his face. He waved his hand at the man reassuringly and offered a wry smirk to April as she walked away. Sighing, he started heading to change his shoes, but hearing the squelch of vomit as he walked, he changed his mind and went outside to stomp the worst of it off first.

* * *

He started to bang his feet right away, and then thought better of it, not wanting any other doctor to have the unpleasant experience of slogging through it on the way in. He walked over to the far corner of the building instead.

"Hey."

A quiet voice somewhere in the dark behind him startled him and he turned his head. He could just barely make out a figure about ten feet away.

"You need some help?" Owen asked, pausing.

"Yeah, " the male voice replied.

The man sounded shaky and Owen was concerned.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

He made his way toward the man quickly. As he got closer, he saw the man looked young and wore a tattered coat.

"I -I need -" he began stuttering as Owen approached.

Owen spoke to him reassuringly. "It's ok," he said. "I'm Dr. Hunt." He reached to put a gentle hand on the young man's arm. "Why don't you come inside-"

"No, I-I just-" the man said haltingly. He moved out of Owen's grasp and Owen looked at him in surprise when he spoke crystal clearly. "You have anything you can get me from in there, man? Maybe a little Fentanyl or something?"

Owen narrowed his eyes. Realizing what the man was after, he set his jaw menacingly.

"If you need medical help, come and check in to the ER," he said firmly. "If you're looking for a quick score, you go somewhere else. You got it?"

The young man looked half crazed. Owen could see that he was already high.

"Come on," the man pleaded. "Please. Just a little. Just a little. Be cool."

Owen stepped aggressively toward him, making him shrink back, and gripped his arm harder.

"Get lost," he ordered. "You come near my ER again looking for drugs and I'll call the cops." He let the man go roughly. "Get gone. I mean it."

The young man sneered at Owen but backed away.

"Screw you, man, " he spat out as he disappeared back into the darkness.

Owen watched him and then began heading back inside. He intended to call security as soon as he got in and warn them to watch out for that guy trying to come back.

He hated drug seekers. They always tried to-

He made it exactly four steps and then searing agony suddenly exploded into his lower right ribs. He gasped in shock, dimly registering a hand jamming a blade into his flesh.

Pain and shock held him immobile and the blade came out. It returned hard, stabbing into his right side and again into his ribs, over and over.

It seemed to last forever and Owen felt his equilibrium spinning. Finally, the knife retreated and he collapsed to the ground with a pained whoosh of air.

He lay stunned, gasping for breath and trying to process what had just happened.

He dimly recognized the tattered jacket as footsteps ran away.

Alone in the dark on the hard pavement, far from where anyone walking out would easily spot him, Owen reached a shaking hand toward where he felt the worst of the pain.

Seeing his hand slick with blood when he lifted it to see made reality slam into him and he began to hyperventilate.

_Move. I need to move. Have to get inside. _

He was shaking. As hard as he tried to will himself to move...he couldnt.

He opened his mouth and tried to call for help. All he could muster was a weak moan.

It hurt. Oh, Jesus, it hurt so much.

Owen swallowed hard, trying to stop gasping for air. He was going to pass out frighteningly soon and no one knew he was there.

His vision began darkening.

_Please_, he prayed to whoever was listening as he sank into oblivion. _Please don't let me die out here alone._


	2. Chapter 2

Chief Bailey strode purposefully down the corridor toward the trauma supply closet. Her latest budget report showed a higher than normal deficit in the monies allocated toward medical supplies and she had the unpleasant task of checking all of the supplies to see if someone was swiping them.

She hoped not. Call her cynical, but she was starting to trust each new class of interns less and less with each passing year. They always seemed to be doing something stupid.

_Cutting LVAD wires, practicing procedures on each other, breaking penises in on-call rooms..._

Just thinking of some of the more spectacular screw-ups she'd witnessed before made her lip curl in disgust.

She knew that people thought she had always been too tough on interns. Truthfully, she was always disappointed in the lack of professionalism that always seemed grossly obvious from them and left her wondering what medical school was accepting nowadays.

"Hello? Help, please!"

A commotion caught her eye as she crossed into the pit and she momentarily forgot about her intention to check supplies. A small crowd was huddled around an unmanned check in desk.

"Is anyone here?! Oh, my God, we need help! "

Bailey saw a woman holding a barely coherent toddler. The child was wheezing and turning an alarming shade of blue. She was shocked to see no one around to triage them. Kepner always made sure the desk was manned at all times.

She couldn't think about that right then. Rushing toward the woman, Bailey quickly started asking questions and leading them toward a trauma room. Meredith saw her and came over to assist.

"Where the hell is Kepner?" Bailey demanded. Instead of waiting for an answer, she snapped, " I got this. Page her right now, we have no doctors in the damned ER! "

Muttering hotly to herself, she went to work assessing the child. Meredith went to the desk and quickly paged April. She was barely able to finish before another person rushed to the desk with an injury.

"Sir," she said soothingly, gesturing to him, " If you will just follow me please... "

* * *

April hurried into the ER, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Bailey barked at her as soon as she came into view, making her jump.

"Kepner! Why the hell are we running an ER with no one to triage patients?"

Bewildered, Kepner looked to the desk. it was empty.

"I left Owen down here a half hour ago," she said, hurrying behind the desk. "He had it under control, so-"

"Page Hunt," the chief snapped. She was pissed and not in the mood to hear excuses.

April wisely kept her mouth shut. She punched in Owen's pager number and called him over the hospital loudspeaker to cover all of her bases.

* * *

"Doctor Hunt to the ER...Doctor Hunt, you're needed in the ER."

Owen dimly heard April's voice from the outside speaker. Then his pager beeped.

Reeling from blood loss and shock, he struggled to get his body to move. But he couldn't even muster the energy to reach for his other side where his pager was.

He suddenly heard laughter close by, followed by voices.

* * *

Roy had been warned time and time again about taking smoke breaks in the ambulance bay. But since he technically was walking away from the ambulance bay as he smoked, he figured he was fine.

Qadri and Schmidt had come outside with him for some fresh air between patients and were playfully arguing about whether or not their last case had been hypochondria.

"Whatever!" Qadri said. " There's no way she was in 'the worst pain of her life.' No way! "

Schmidt looked at her incredulously. "I would think you would be sympathetic."

" Why, because i have a vagina? " she shot back. "Please. People who complain about period cramps make me want to punch them in the face."

Roy guffawed and nearly dropped his cigarette.

Someone's pager went off suddenly. They all reached for theirs.

Qadri groaned. "Make it stop."

"It's not mine," Schmidt said.

"Not me," Roy added.

She looked at hers in surprise. "Huh," she said. "Not mine either."

The pager went off again.

Schmidt was the first one to see him. He gasped.

"Oh, my God!"

He ran the few feet to where Owen lay. The other two saw what had happened and quickly followed.

* * *

Doctor Hunt!"

The relief that flooded through Owen when he realized someone had found him caused his body to reflexively relax. When it did, white-hot agony seared worse than ever and a whimper escaped of its own volition.

_Warn them. It's not safe out here, he could stab them too!_

He struggled to become coherent.

* * *

The three interns knelt around Owen and looked at each other worriedly.

"I can't see a wound," Qadrid said in a panic.

Blood was oozing out from seemingly everywhere. It soaked Owen's scrub top and had formed a large puddle underneath of him.

Looking over Owen, Schmidt tried to see a source of the bleeding. He looked up at Roy. "Get some help! Hurry!"

Looking scared, Roy got to his feet and ran back toward the ambulance bay.

* * *

April had called and paged Owen three times with no response. She was trying not to catch Bailey's attention because she could tell the Chief was getting more steamed with each passing minute that Owen failed to answer. Not that April blamed her. It wasn't like Owen to disappear like this. Or ignore a page, for that matter.

She hoped for his sake that he hadn't sneaked off for a quickie with Amelia somewhere.

Bailey angrily snapped of her gloves. She turned to the nurse closest to the bed she had been working on.

"Write up discharge papers for this patient," she ordered. "Keep paging Hunt. If you find him before I do, tell him I'm going to ream his ass." She stalked toward the hallway. " I swear, if I find him having sex in an on-call room... "

Jackson passed by in time to hear her last sentence. He stared after her in amusement and looked questioningly at April.

"Have you seen Owen?" she asked.

He shook his head.

Just then, Roy came barreling in from the ambulance bay and came dangerously close to running smack into Jackson.

He rolled his eyes. "Watch it, Roy," he said in annoyance, starting to walk away.

The intern shook his head quickly. "It's Doctor Hunt," he said breathlessly.

April snapped her head toward him at the words.

"Outside, " Roy went on. "He 's hurt. It's bad, hurry!"

Surprised and shocked, Jackson yelled at Roy to grab a gurney and sprinted outside.

April dropped the sign in sheet she was holding and ran after him.

* * *

Schmidt did the only thing he could think to do. He pressed his hands against where it looked like most of the blood was coming from.

Owen yelled in agony. He snatched his hands away nervously.

"What the hell happened?"

Jackson dropped down quickly beside them, his expression horrified.

"I-I don't know," Schmidt stuttered. "We just came outside and he was-"

"Oh, God!" Kepner appeared a minute later. She immediately began assessing him and tben pressed her hands over his bleeding side.

He cried out again and squirmed, trying to move away from her.

"We've got you, Owen," Kepner said. " Just hold on. " She turned her head toward Qadri. "Put your hands here. Press hard and don't stop."

On his other side, Jackson was doing holding pressure on Owen's chest. "There's too much blood." He looked worriedly at April. "It looks close to the heart." He turned his head, shouting. " Where the hell is the damn gurney? "

Owen started to hyperventilate. Jackson inclined his head so that he could look into Owen's eyes and put on his most reassuring face.

"Hey," he said as lightly as he could. " Hey, look at me, Owen. " He forced a comforting smile. "It's ok. You're ok, buddy."

The pain and fear in Owen's face was like a jackhammer to his gut but he kept it up, nodding. "It's ok. " He heard the gurney rolling up toward them. "We're going to get you inside."

"Stabbed me, " Own gasped out as they were lifting him up onto it. "He stabbed me."

April looked at Jackson, startled. They began rushing toward the doors without saying anything, but she knew by his expression that they were both thinking the same thing.

_Did he just say someone __**stabbed**__ him?!_

* * *

Meredith was next to the desk helping Helm fill out a chart when she saw Jackson and April flying inside pushing a gurney. Three interns were helping.

"We need to get him to a trauma room," Jackson said. "Come on, we've got to move!"

Seeing the patient covered in blood ,she hurried over to help.

"Is there an ambulance-?" She got a good look at who was on the gurney and her face went white. "Oh, my God!"

" Watch out! " Kepner commanded, clearing a path. She looked into the nearest room. "Trauma 2 is empty."

" Jackson, " Meredith breathed in horror, her eyes transfixed on Owen's figure.

Avery turned his head toward her as he moved toward the trauma room. "Get Bailey, we need Security down here. He said someone stabbed him." Her eyebrows flew to her hairline. " And page Pierce! "

As he disappeared into the trauma room, Meredith looked at the interns. All four of them were just standing there, looking scared.

"Why are you standing there?" she yelled. " Go find Bailey and get Cardio in here! Now! "

The interns scattered quickly. She ran to Trauma room 2.

* * *

Owen faded in and out of consciousness as he was wheeled through the hospital. Every breath began to hurt worse than the last.

He grunted, whimpering as he struggled to breathe. An oxygen mask was placed over his face and he gasped tearfully into it.

He was dimly aware of a cold sensation as someone cut his scrub top off. Then a sharp pain made him jerk and yelp.

* * *

Webber was walking the halls looking for a case when three interns came running toward him.

"Hey, slow down!" he admonished.

Schmidt paused. "Dr. Webber," he said urgently. "Have you seen the Chief?"

He thought a minute. "I passed her going by the Peds floor a few minutes ago," he replied.

Qadri and Roy hurried in that direction. Schmidt thanked him breathlessly and was running after them before he could say anything else.

Shaking his head, he continued walking. A minute later, someone flew running past him and he recognized that it was Maggie.

"Hey-why's everyone in such a hurry?" he called after her.

She paused for the briefest second as she was opening the closest set of entryway doors.

"Owen was stabbed," she said briskly. "Kepner said it's bad."

Webber quickly followed her.

* * *

Owen was having audible trouble breathing by the time Jackson got the gurney into the trauma room.

"He needs oxygen," he said immediately, turning his head toward April. He didn't want to risk taking pressure off of the chest wound.

" I got it, " Meredith said quickly, coming in behind him.

She grabbed an oxygen mask. She looked down worriedly into Owen's face as she placed it over his mouth and nose. Hearing wheezing, she put the bell of her stethoscope to his chest above Jackson's hands.

"Unequal breath sounds," she said. "Sounds like a partially collapsed right lung."

April attached a heart monitor and began cutting up from the bottom of Owen's scrub top. "I'm going to irrigate the sternum, try to find the entrance wounds."

Meredith lowered the stethoscope off of her ears. "What happened?" she asked Jackson in disbelief. " He was stabbed? When? Who-? "

Suddenly, Owen began coughing and gagging violently. The monitor beeped rapidly, indicating a drop in his pulse rate. Blood began to fill the oxygen mask.

Meredith quickly took away and tried to look down his throat with her light. "There's blood in his airway," she said. " I'm going to need to intubate. "

There was no time for Lidocaine prep. She winced as she lifted the scalpel. As she began the incision in his throat, he jerked hard and gave a gurgled yell. He moaned as she inserted the breathing tube. The blood in his windpipe began spilling out around it.

* * *

Qadrid caught a glimpse of Bailey almost out of sight as they crossed an hallway in the Pediatric wing. She stopped short.

"Chief!" she yelled down the corridor.

Alex and Arizona were walking out of a Pediatric patient room and saw Roy and Schmidt running after Qadrid. Then they heard her urgent yell for Bailey.

They headed in their direction as Bailey turned around.

"Why are you screaming in my hospital?" she asked irritably. " I've already got one doctor on my hut list...you don't want to upset me right now. "

Qadrid was breathless and could barely speak.

"Doctor Bailey," she said. " You need to call Security right away. Doctor Hunt has been stabbed. "

Arizona gasped, close enough to hear the words.

Bailey's face transformed with concern. "What? Is he alright?"

Schmidt came up next to Qadrid.

"We found him outside of the ambulance bay," he said. " He lost a lot of blood...Doctor Avery took him to Trauma room 2. "

She spotted Alex and Arizona.

"Robbins," she ordered. " Get Security down there. Karev-"

Alex was already running for the elevator.

* * *

Maggie didn't know what to expect when she got down to the Truama room, but it definitely didn't lesson the shock when she felt when she came in. Her colleagues were scurrying around, blood was everywhere on the floor, and a gutteral sound was almost overbearing all of it.

She realized the sound was Owen groaning in pain.

" How is he? " she asked urgently.

Jackson was covered almost to the elbows in blood from where he was pressing on Owen's chest.

"He has a stab wound between the second and third ribs," he said. " It feels like it nicked the left ventrical wall. "

Pierce immediately came over. "Let up the pressure," she said. She tried to see the wound and couldn't. She shook her head. "I can't get a visual. We have to drain this blood...I'm going to need to put in a chest tube."

She looked over when she heard someone else enter, needing hands. Webber crossed the room and grabbed one from the trauma cart.

Bailey burst in. She looked at Owen worriedly. "Somebody talk to me," she said.

They were having to raise their voices over Owen's pained moans.

From his other side, April was irrigating his sternum. "He's got a left abdominal wound about 3 inches in diameter and another about 2 inches in diameter near the left lateral chest that I'm cleaning out." she answered. "A third near the upper chest cavity."

Owen cried out, nearly dislodging the breathing tube. He jolted and began trying to flail his arms. Maggie pulled back from getting ready to make an incision.

"We need to get him calmed down," Maggie said. " I can't risk putting in the chest tube if he moves. "

He began thrashing more and they had to brace him. Bailey moved immediately up toward Owen's head.

"Take it easy, Doctor Hunt," she said. " Try and calm down. "

His eyes darted toward hers. Unable to speak with the tube in his throat, he grunted, looking panicked. He tried to move again.

He was starting to heave, become quickly exhausted from the agitation and pain. Bailey made a quick decision. She reached down and took his hand, holding it steadily in both of hers.

"Alright," she said briskly. "Breathe. Just breathe, Owen."

A tearful breath exploded from him as if he had been holding onto it hard. She felt him cling to her hand hard.

She realized just then that she very rarely had ever addressed him using his first name. A rush of guilt flooded her and her voice softened.

"We've got you," she assured him, squeezing his hand lightly. "We're going to take care of you."

He kept staring at her face, looking like he was fighting to stay awake. She squeezed his hand again. His eyes slid closed.

"Chest tube is in," Maggie said a moment later. She stepped back. " I'm going to need a chest x ray before you go to the OR. "

Webber moved aside. "I'll get it set up."

"Let's move," April said, grabbing the end of the gurney.

She and Webber wheeled him out of the trauma room. For a moment, the remaining doctors stood silently, digesting what had just taken place.

"Dr. Bailey."

She turned. Arizona stood in the doorway.

"Head of security wants to speak to you," Robbins said.

The chief nodded. She glanced at Meredith. "Keep me updated."

Bailey left the room. Maggie followed, heading for the OR.

A loud slapping of latex made Meredith glance over toward Jackson. He roughly pulled off his gloves, looking shaken. He hurried past her without a word.

Alex was standing outside when she left the Trauma room. He looked at her worriedly.

"You ok?" he asked

She shook her head. A thought turned over and over in her mind. She bit her lip and walked to the stairwell.

After a moment of hesitation, she pulled out her phone and scrolled through the contacts until she found Cristina Yang.


	3. Chapter 3

The elevator was silent when the doors closed and they began ascending. The heart monitor was showing a steady heart rate but Owen had not awakened. Webber looked over at April worriedly as she was manually ventilating him.

"Do you know how this happened?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No idea," she replied.

He didn't voice his next thought.

_We've already had a gunman loose in here once. I hope we don't have a knife-welding psycho next._

They were one floor away from the CT suite when Owen's heart rate suddenly elevated. Then he was moving, shaking his head side to side and struggling against the tube in his throat.

"Easy, Owen," Richard said. "It's alright, you just need to stay still."

His words had the exact opposite reaction. As the elevator doors opened, he became more agitated.

April realized he was starting to panic. She looked to the closest nurses station. "I need 1.5 miligrams of Propofol over here, please."

"Yes, Doctor," one of the nurses replied, hurrying to retrieve it.

The two of them continued trying to reassure him and stop him from hurting himself further. The nurse arrived with a syringe of the medication and pushed it into his IV.

He stilled and dropped into unconsciousness again.

"Thank you," April said to the nurse.

* * *

Cristina completed the whipple procedure she was performing.

"Looks good," she said, nodding at the doctor assisting her. " Go ahead and close. "

She stepped away from the operating table and out of the room, removing her gown.

As she pulled off her mask, her phone chimed from her pocket. She always sent it to voicemail when she was in surgery.

She retrieved it and saw a missed call from Meredith. Grinning, she listened to the message.

"Cristina, it's Meredith. I need you to call me as soon as you can."

Meredith sounded...more somber than normal. Cristina noted the time. Almost 3 am in Seattle. She guessed Mer was dealing with a rough case.

She dialed her friend back right away from her office. Meredith answered on the first ring.

"Rough night?" Cristina asked sympathetically.

" Cristina, " Meredith replied. "Are you somewhere away from patients? I need to tell you something."

She could tell by her friend's voice that it was serious. But nothing could have prepared her for what came next.

"It's Owen," Meredith went on. "He's been stabbed."

Cristina felt like she had just been punched in the gut. She could barely speak.

"How bad?" she managed to ask.

Meredith couldn't lie to her. "Three wounds," she said. " Two near the right ribs and one near the right vena cava. "

Cristina had started to tremble and didn't even feel it.

"Oh, God," she whispered. She couldn't speak for a minute. "Mer..."

She sounded close to tears. Meredith felt her own rush of emotion and pushed it down as best she could. She described Owen's condition, knowing her friend needed the clinical detachment.

"Interns found him outside the trauma bay," she said. "His BP and heart rate were fluctuating when we brought him in. He was conscious when we intubated him and put in a chest tube."

Tears welled in Cristina's eyes as she pictured what her friend was describing. She took a deep breath.

"Who is operating?" she asked.

"Maggie," Meredith answered.

"Get in there," Cristina said. Her mind was already made up in a split second. "I need you in there until I can get there. Stay with him, Mer. Please."

" Of course I will, " she said. Then she realized what she'd just heard. "Wait-until you get here? You-"

Cristina had hung up before she could finish. She glanced over at the framed photo of she and Owen from their wedding day that she still kept. A tear escaped and she brushed it away fast as she picked up her office phone.

"Ross," she said without preamble when he answered. "I need you to take my surgeries. I'm going to Seattle. Tonight."

* * *

Bailey had spotted Mike Tomlin, their Head Security officer, and made her way to him before it dawned on her that she had nothing to report to him.

_Crap_.

"Hold on, Mike," she said before he could say anything. She turned and scanned the ER for anyone who had been in the Trauma room. "Avery!"

He looked over and she gestured her way.

"I need you to fill us in on what happened to Doctor Hunt," she said when he came over. "Who are we looking for here?"

Jackson shook his head. "You're going to need Roy, Schmidt, or Qadrid for that," he said. "We didn't even know he was out there until Roy told us and there wasn't anyone else out there that I saw."

He paused, seeing her look and correctly interpreting it.

"I'll...just go and find them."

* * *

Webber called two x-ray technicians to help move Owen's still form onto the table and cover him. He turned toward the window where April was logging into the computer. Maggie stood beside her.

"Go ahead and set up a chest x-ray along with a contrast," Pierce instructed.

Webber and the techs cleared the room. He joined April and Maggie to wait for the images. Their faces dropped when they saw them.

"Damn," Webber said heavily.

"We need to operate immediately," Maggie said. "Get him to OR 3 right now. I'm scrubbing in."

April nodded. "Me too."

* * *

Meredith went looking for Amelia on her way to find out what OR Owen was going in. She definitely didn't want her to hear what had happened through the grapevine.

She passed Alex and Jo. Jo grasped her arm.

"I heard about Owen," she said. "Has there been any news?"

She shook her head. "Not yet," she said. "Maggie is operating on him. I'm headed there." She scanned the surgery board. " Have either of you seen Amelia? "

"She's in OR 4 working on an arteriovenous malformation," Wilson answered.

Meredith grimaced. That surgery could take hours. "Let me know when she's through," she said. "I need to tell her before she finds out from somebody else first."

Jo nodded. "Sure."

"Let me know if you need any help," Alex added.

Meredith looked at him. She was surprised by his words even though she shouldn't have been. He had a good heart despite his efforts to appear like he didn't care about very much. She knew that better than anyone.

"I called Cristina," she said. "She sounded like she intends to come here tonight."

His eyebrows rose. "Really? " he said. "I always thought it would take an apocalypse to get Yang back in this place. "

Meredith agreed. "But this **is** Owen, " she said. "So I think it's pretty close."

* * *

"Did you see anyone near Doctor Hunt when you found him?"

Schmidt shook his head in response to Tomlin's question.

"I just saw him on the ground," he said. " But...well, it was dark, so... " He shrugged.

"Perfect," Bailey broke in.

She hadn't meant to be sarcastic, but she really hated sitting on her hands when there was a problem.

"So all three of you saw nothing, know nothing and basically...can do nothing." She rolled her eyes. " If that isn't the definition of an intern... "

Tomlin interrupted. "Alright," he broke in. Qadrid and Roy looked guiltily at him from beside Bailey. "We'll keep an eye on the outside perimeters and give Seattle PD a call. Hopefully Doctor Hunt will be able to tell them something."

* * *

Fully scrubbed, Maggie hurried to get to the operating table.

"He's bleeding around the chest tube," she said. "I need a chest tray for a thoracotomy." A nurse set one up next to her. She looked at April on the other side of the table, busy suturing one of the wounds closed near his ribs. "Are you stable on that side?"

Kepner completed sewing and checked the pressure dressing on the second wound. It was holding. "Go ahead."

Pierce initiated the incision between Owen's ribs. "Suction," she requested, peering in. "Retractor. "

She frowned worriedly and shook her head. "There's too much clotting in the pleural cavity."

The alarms abruptly began going haywire. They both snapped their heads up.

"Pressure is dropping," April said urgently. "80 over 60."

"Damn it!" Maggie said anxiously. She dropped the retractor and shoved her hands into Owen's chest, lifting out handfuls of clots. "I have to find the source of this bleed."

The heart rate indicator beeped long and continuously.

"He's flat lining!" April quickly turned toward the nurse. "Paddles, now!"

Maggie frantically continued pulling out clots. "Come on, Owen," she said. "Hang in there, come on."

A nurse applied gel to Owen's chest.

"Charge to 200," April instructed.

She looked at Maggie, who wasn't letting up her moving.

"Maggie, stop," she ordered. When the other woman still didn't move, April barked at her. "Pierce!"

"There!" Maggie said quickly. "There it is."

She quickly clamped it and lifted her hands.

"Clear!"

* * *

Teddy Altman pulled her suitcase tiredly through the doors of the hospital. After her flight from Germany, she should have wanted to go to the hotel first to at least drop off her bag. But she was anxious to talk to Owen.

Her periods had been irregular most of her life. It was apparently how her body handled stress. Through her Army tour, college, and medical school, it remained constant in that it was never constant. Still, it never concerned her. It always came eventually.

Or so she'd thought over the last two months. When she went over 50 days without it, she uneasily bought a home pregnancy test.

Part of her had initially considered staying right where she was and never mentioning it to him. With how they had last parted, it would have been safe to say that the chances of him ever returning were nonexistent. It would have been easy enough to step into the role of single mother, as easy as anything in her life ever was. Not many women made it up the ranks to become Army Majors. She clearly knew how to thrive in difficult circumstances and parenting would have been no different.

But he was her best friend. Even with as angry and hurt as she was from his visit to Germany, that hadn't changed. It couldn't change. She loved him so deeply that it scared her and had for years, even through their respective flings, marriages, and separate lives.

She had seen who he was during their time serving together in the Army. He had a good heart, a genuine heart, that was rare and beautiful. Seeing a child with his features every day that he wouldn't know even existed would break her. He deserved to know.

Which brought her back to the hospital that she had thought she was leaving behind forever. She didn't have a clue what she was doing or what she planned to say.

Sighing tiredly, she approached the nurses station in the lobby.

"Hi," she said to the nurse behind the nearest computer. "Do you know where I can find Doctor Hunt?"

The nurse keyed in a few strokes on the keyboard.

"He's in surgery in OR 3," she replied.

That figured. He would probably be busy for hours. She resisted the urge to scowl and thanked the nurse.

She decided maybe it was a good thing. At least she could think of some way to tell him while she waited.

* * *

Meredith stepped into the scrub room intending to keep her promise to Christina. She was going to stay with Owen no matter what. She watched Maggie and April operate as she scrubbed.

Then she heard Kepner say that he had flatlined and her heart dropped to her feet.

_No. No, no, no!_

She hurriedly grabbed a mask and went in just in time to see April shock him. She looked at the monitor anxiously.

Nothing.

"Charge to 250," April said. The machine whirred. " Clear! "

His body surged upright from voltage.

Nothing.

Tears pricked her eyes and emotion started choking her.

* * *

_Maggie worked frantically. But the blood just kept coming. It overflowed the floor._

_"I can't get a heartbeat!" she said._

_She pushed hard up and down on Owen's chest. Across from her, April was looking at Owen, shell shocked._

_She kept up the CPR. Nothing happened. The monitor continued to show a flat line._

_After a minute, she stopped. April started gasping over and over in disbelief._

_Maggie's voice was strangled with grief and shock._

_"Time of death," she said, looking at the clock. "6:18."_

Cristina jolted awake with a whoosh of breath. She looked around and saw that the plane was descending.

_Just a dream. Thank God. It was just a dream._

Since the plane crash, every time she had to fly she took a sedative that would make her sleep through it. But she didn't usually dream.

Her heart pounding, she tried to forget the images. She felt wetness on her face and quickly wiped it away as the pilot came over the intercom, announcing that they were about to land in Seattle.

* * *

Amelia stretched her neck carefully without moving from her position. The AVM was a lot more invasive than she had originally prepared for. They were about 70% of the way through with the surgery, but after five hours, she wasn't happy with how it was going.

She had wanted to remove the malformation completely along with the infected tissue surrounding it. But the capillaries were too thin and she was worried about an uncontrolled bleed.

"Let's go ahead with an endovascular embolization before we keep going," she decided. " I don't like the way this is looking. I don't want to paralyze her. "

The resident assisting her nodded.

"Go ahead and get the dye ready and inject it," she went on. "I'm going to go update the husband."

* * *

Cristina almost leaped from the taxi when it pulled up in front of Grey Sloan Memorial. She hurried inside and pulled out her phone to call Meredith.

Before she could, she almost plowed into Bailey. The chief did a double-take.

"Cristina?" she said. " What in the world are you doing here? " As soon as she said the words, she felt foolish. There was only one reason.

"I need privileges, Bailey," Cristina said. "Let me go in there."

"Meredith told you what happened." It wasn't a question. "Look, Pierce is in there. She's the best we-"

" SHE ISN'T **ME**! " Cristina hadn't meant to yell. She saw Bailey's startled look, but couldn't stop the words from tumbling out in her panic. "I don't care how good she is. Owen Hunt is on that table and I **am** going in. "

They didn't realize how loud their voices were.

* * *

"**What** did you just say?!"

Teddy was at their side in seconds. She had heard them from where she had been sitting nearby, working on a case from her laptop while she waited.

She hadn't paid attention to just who was speaking, just to the words that had made her freeze. When she broke in and realized it was Cristina, she didn't know which one of them was more surprised to see the other.

"Dr. Altman?" Bailey asked. "What are you-"

"Owen is being operated on?" she asked. " Why? What happened? "

She suddenly realized...when the nurse had told her that he was in OR 3, she had meant as a patient. Her stomach turned dangerously.

Dear God. She had been sitting there for hours and all that time, he had been-

"Teddy?" Cristina asked, puzzled. "Don't you live in Germany?"

Teddy shot her an irritated look. "Don't **you** live in Switzerland? " she retorted. "Now talk to me, damn it! What happened to Owen?"

"**Wow**."

A sardonic voice cut in loudly and the three of them looked over. Amelia had paused in mid-stride, catching sight of them.

"Both of Owen's ex-wives and the best friend secretly in love with him, all in the same room?" she went on. " It's like a bad punchline. " Seeing their faces made her stop cold. "What? Did something happen?"

"Yes," Bailey said heavily. "Yes, something did happen. Doctor Hunt was stabbed multiple times." She held up her hands when Amelia's mouth dropped open. " I don't know the details of what happened yet. We got him stable in the ER and Pierce, Kepner, and Grey are in the OR with him. "

Cristina's face suddenly paled. "Oh, God," she whispered dreadfully, looking past the other women.

They all turned fast.

Meredith was walking slowly toward them in blood-spattered scrubs. Tear tracks were clearly visible as she got closer.

**I already have my idea...but I would be very interested to hear your opinions. Which "side" of Owen's triangle would YOU like to see take center stage in the coming chapters-Cristina, Teddy, or Amelia?**

**In case you can't tell, I am partial to each one! I mean, come on...how can anyone go wrong who loves Owen Hunt? **

**And don't judge them too harshly by how they've interacted. They 're stressed!**


	4. Chapter 4

Meredith took a deep breath as she approached.

"How is he?" Cristina asked, stepping toward her.

She looked at all of them grimly.

"He coded twice," she said. "The second time he didn't come out of v-fib with the shock. Maggie is doing cardiac massage trying to restart his heart."

Teddy's face twisted like she was about to cry and she cleared her throat.

"How long has he been down?" she asked tearfully.

Seeing the expression on her sister's face at the question made Amelia's breath catch. She looked at Meredith wide-eyed when she hesitated.

"Twenty-five minutes," Meredith replied hoarsely.

Cristina looked frantically at the Chief.

"Bailey-" she began anxiously, glancing towards Meredith.

Bailey couldn't speak for a minute. She was shocked.

"Go," she said immediately.

Cristina broke into a run, following Meredith through the doors leading to the operation hall.

Teddy looked questioningly at Bailey. She nodded quickly and Teddy flung open the doors to go after them.

* * *

Maggie could feel her hands starting to go numb. She looked up at the monitor. No change. As much as she hated to do it, she had to take a break.

"I need you to take over," she said breathlessly to April.

April looked at her, startled. "What? I-I don't know how to-"

She shook her head. "I'll walk you through it," she said. " I need to get feeling back in my hands and we can't stop. "

Swallowing nervously, April moved beside Maggie.

"Cup your hands," she instructed. "I'm going to lift mine and I need you to take the heart in both of yours. "

April tried not to think about the fact that she was about to literally about to hold Owen's heart in her hands. She and Maggie briefly held it together and then the weight of it was all hers.

"Now press in circular motions hard," Maggie went on. " And keep up the pressure. "

Maggie stepped back and began rubbing her hands.

They both looked over when the doors from the scrub room opened. Meredith had returned and there were two other women with her that Maggie didn't immediately recognize.

April did and was shocked.

"Dr. Yang?" she said, eyebrows raised. "Dr. Altman?"

Cristina didn't waste a moment. She went right over to April.

"Excuse me-" Maggie said.

"Let me take over," she ordered, ignoring Pierce. She reached in and took the heart from April, applying deep pressure. "Did you give him Atropine?"

Once her hands were free, Kepner went back to working on the wound under the pressure dressing. She didn't like the way his lung was re-inflating. It was stuttering each time the ventilator pressed air in and there was a hole that she was struggling to close.

"Who let you in here?" Maggie said.

She went to intercept Cristina. Before she could, Bailey was heard over the gallery intercom.

"I've given them both privileges, Pierce," she said. " Let them help. "

Maggie looked up into the gallery.

* * *

Amelia had immediately gone up to OR 3 and into the gallery. When she got there, she was surprised to find it almost filled.

Doctors from several departments were seated in the back row. Robbins and Alex were among them, along with several interns. Webber was in the front row with Katherine Avery beside him. Jackson was next to her, staring pensively down at the operation.

It was eerily quiet. No one was speaking.

All at once, she felt suffocated. There was no way she was going to be able to sit in there with all of them and watch Owen being operated on without losing it.

Tears blurred her vision as she stumbled out. She hurried past Bailey, who was going in, and fled to the stairwell.

She made it down one flight and collapsed against the wall. She hugged her midsection and broke down into sobs.

_He can't die. Oh, God, he can't die!_

* * *

"How is it looking?" Bailey said as soon as she entered the gallery.

She moved on the other side of Richard and looked somberly down at the operation.

"He's been down almost thirty minutes," Jackson answered quietly.

He looked fraught with emotion and she was a bit surprised. She hadn't thought he was that close with Owen.

Richard shook his head gravely.

"You might have to start preparing everyone, Bailey," he said.

She looked at him, aghast at his words. But before she could say anything, Maggie's agitated voice was heard.

"Who let you in here?"

Bailey immediately went over to the intercom. "I've given them both privileges, Pierce. Let them help."

Maggie gave her an irritated look but didn't respond.

* * *

Cristina pressed firmly against Owen's heart.

"Give him 0.4 units of Vasopressin," she said to Pierce.

Maggie hesitated. "I've already given him Atropine and Epi," she replied. "I don't want to risk overloading his bloodstream and sending him into septic shock."

Teddy spoke up. "Vasopressin infusion will improve the arterial pressure. It could increase the success of cardiac massage."

For a moment, Maggie and Cristina stared at each other.

Then Maggie nodded.

"Pushing 0.4 units Vasopresson," April announced, administering the drug.

They all watched the monitor tensely. No change. Cristina continued cardiac massage, dipping her head as tears began to slip out.

From the gallery, Jackson clenched his fists in frustration. "Come on, Owen," he muttered quietly. He dropped his head, not wanting to look anymore.

Bailey folded her hands under her chin anxiously.

"Please, Lord..." she breathed.

* * *

Suddenly, the cardiac indicator blipped.

"There!" Teddy said urgently.

Cristina's head shot up. She saw nothing. She pressed more firmly.

It blipped again.

"Yang, stop," Maggie said quickly. "I'm going to shock him again."

She turned toward the crash cart and grabbed the paddles. Cristina moved her hands away.

"Charge to 350," Maggie said. The machine whirred. " Clear! "

She delivered the shock.

A moment later, the heart monitor began steadily beeping.

"Sinus rhythm!" she said excitedly. She studied the monitor. " Stats are coming up! "

April let out a breath. "Thank you, Jesus," she murmured.

Teddy dropped into a crouch, overwhelmed with relief, and smiled widely as she struggled not to cry.

"I want to put him on Ecmo to give his heart a rest while we fix the lung," Maggie said.

April nodded, going to set it up. "Dr. Altman," shes said as she approached Teddy. "Can you give me an assist with the abdominal wound? I'm going to do a laparotomy. "

Teddy straightened, nodding. "Yes," she said, wiping her eyes quickly. "Of course."

The heart monitor continued a steady rhythm as they went back to operating.

Meredith broke into a bright grin and looked up at the gallery. Clapping and relieved smiles were all around. She looked at Cristina expecting to see the same.

Then she lost her smile.

Cristina was gripping the table with both hands. She had her head down and was trembling.

"Cristina," she said.

Her friend looked at her with a stricken expression.

"Are-are we good here?" Cristina said in a strangled voice.

"Yes," Maggie said. She looked up at her. " Thank y-"

Before she could finish speaking, Cristina had hurried out of the room.

* * *

Meredith immediately went after her.

"Cristina," she said, looking in one direction for her. She caught sight of scrubs disappearing when she looked the other way. "Cristina!"

She quickened her pace, trying to catch up with her friend. Cristina abruptly stopped at the end of the hallway.

"Hey," Meredith said in confusion as she approached.

Cristina faced the wall and didn't turn toward her. When Meredith gently touched her arm, she felt shaking.

Cristina crumpled forward and began gasping.

"I can't-I can't-" She struggled to speak. "I can't breathe, Mer." Meredith grabbed her shoulders softly and turned her around. She shook her head, sobbing breaths. "I can't breathe."

She suddenly burst into tears and couldn't hold herself up anymore. She slid down to the hugged her, her face twisted with sympathetic sadness. She stroked Cristina's hair while she cried hard.

"He's okay," Meredith said softly. " He's strong, Cristina. You saw it. He's okay. "

Tears continued to stream down Cristina's face. Meredith held her, leaning her head against her friend's hair. They stayed that way for several minutes.

"I love him, Meredith." Cristina's voice came out in an agonized whisper. "I love him so much."

Meredith grimaced sadly.

"I know," she replied softly. She tucked a strand of Cristina's hair gently behind her ear. "I know you do."

Cristina leaned her head against Meredith's shoulder and closed her eyes.

Meredith abruptly felt someone watching them. She turned her head.

Amelia stood a few feet away. She had obviously heard. Her eyes were wide with disbelief, fear, and uncertainty.


	5. Chapter 5

They were starting the laparotomy procedure when Teddy suddenly froze. She stood still a moment and then returned to her task.

Then she froze again.

Swallowing, she took a step back from the table. April glanced at her.

"Nurse," she said, holding her hands out in front of her. " Bring me a collection basin, please...quickly. "

With a confused look at April, one of the nurses assisting retrieved one. Teddy stopped her from coming too close.

"Just hold it out towards me," she instructed. The nurse did. "Now someone remove my mask, please. "

"What-?" Maggie began.

As soon as her mask was removed, Teddy vomited into the basin.

"Whoa," April said. She paused her hands. "Are you alright?"

Teddy sniffed and nodded for the nurse to take the basin. "I'm going to need a new mask."

" No, " Maggie interjected. "No, no." She gestured with her head toward the door. "You need to leave this room if you're sick."

"I"m fine," she replied. The nurse tied on a new mask. "Thank you."

"You could give him an infection," Maggie insisted. "I can't compromise a patient and you shouldn't want to either."

She clenched her teeth. "I'm not sick, Dr. Pierce."

Maggie narrowed her eyes. "You obviously-"

"I'm not sick!" Teddy exploded. She winced ruefully from her outburst. She sighed. "I'm pregnant."

She eyed both of them edgily, silently warning them not to comment.

Maggie returned to operating quietly and so did Teddy.

"...Congratulations?" April offered hesitantly.

Teddy shot her an annoyed look.

* * *

Amelia swallowed hard and turned around quickly, heading back into the stairwell. Her hands were shaking.

_She still loves him._

She didn't know much about Cristina Yang other than the little Owen had told her and what others around the hospital said. She did know that Owen had deeply loved her and had been devastated by her leaving for Switzerland. He had never outright said so but...she could tell. He had never been good at hiding his emotions.

Cristina had been nothing more than a story to her. But now she had suddenly appeared from out of nowhere and was able to help save Owen's life, while Amelia was not.

She wasn't sure how to feel about that. She had done a fine job convincing Owen that their "tumor marriage" had just been a bad impulse with no real meaning behind it. She had done a fine job convincing **herself** that she didn't truly love him.

But this had proven her wrong.

Faced with the possibility that he could die, she had realized that living without him would kill her. He was embedded too deep into her heart.

Evidently, the same held true for Cristina Yang.

And that scared her.

* * *

An hour later, Maggie wearily pulled off her mask and stepped into the scrub room to wash up, while April and Teddy finished.

Cristina and Meredith were there watching through the window.

"I bandaged the right lung, " she said, sticking her hands under the faucet. "But there are a couple of broken ribs, so I'm going to leave the chest tube in until they heal."

She straightened and looked at both of them seriously. "I'm concerned about his brain function," she said frankly. "He was in cardiac arrest for thirty minutes. He could have serious deficits."

Cristina felt like she might puke.

"I'll call Amelia," she went on. "I assume you'll want to be there for the Neuro exam."

Cristina said nothing. She couldn't even nod. It felt like she was frozen.

Meredith glanced at her in concern. Her friend looked stricken.

"Yes," she answered for Cristina.

Maggie looked at Yang for a minute quizzically but just nodded.

"They're almost through here," she said. " I'll come find you once he's in a room. "

She left to find Amelia. Meredith rubbed Cristina's shoulder reassuringly.

Cristina gripped the edge of the sink and lowered her head.

* * *

Given the situation, Bailey had assigned the interns to scut work until the rest of the attendings were available. DeLuca had volunteered to oversee them.

For the moment, there were no urgent cases or emergencies to deal with, DeLuca told them each to pick a specialty floor and start updating all of the charts.

It was no secret that charting was the bane of a hospital's existence and more than a fair share was usually pushed to the interns. He sympathized with them and did his best to help.

"Helm," he said, coming out of a patient's room. "The lady in here needs an enema for a colonoscopy."

She nodded and disappeared down the hallway to get it. She looked around the empty corridor at the supply carts until she found the one she needed.

She was crouched down reaching into the bottom drawer when a shadow fell over her. Surprised, she stood up and turned around.

A shocked squeak made it's way past her lips before she lost her breath.

A man stood almost touching her nose. He was brandishing a knife aggressively.

"Give me whatever is in that drawer," he demanded

* * *

Amelia and Maggie stood outside the door to room 3 in the ICU and watched Owen being rolled inside. April accompanied the nurses getting the monitors hooked up and checked his vitals.

She came out a minute later. "His numbers are lower than I'd like," she said gravely. "Hopefully the Ecmo will get them back up."

They saw her looking behind them. Amelia turned and saw Meredith, Cristina, and Teddy approaching.

"I'll go update Bailey," April said.

Teddy thought that she was prepared. She had just helped operate on him, for God's sake.

But it was different in the OR. Her body went into auto-pilot mode thanks to her Army and surgical experiences. She could easily disassociate when she had instruments in her hands.

When she got to his room and got a full view of Owen laying unconscious and hooked to multiple machines, tubes in his throat and side, tears welled up fast. She cleared her throat and blinked them away rapidly.

* * *

None of them spoke for a minute as the other women joined Maggie and Amelia and it began to feel incredibly awkward.

"I'm going to go ahead with the exam," Amelia finally said, breaking the silence.

Almost immediately, Cristina rounded on her.

"You should wait until he's awake," she said. Her expression was almost piercing.

Amelia wanted to be cordial, for Owen's sake if nothing else. But her hackles rose instinctively and she reacted without thinking.

"Oh, should I, Dr. Yang?" she said condescendingly. "And...**where** exactly did you do your Neurosurgery fellowship again? I forget."

Meredith looked at her in disapproval. Amelia ignored her. Cristina looked like she wanted to snarl at her.

Amelia didn't owe her an explanation but gave one anyway.

"It's better to establish a baseline now," she said, " so that I can better recognize any issues once he's conscious. "

Cristina kept going as if she hadn't spoken.

"There are rules against operating on family members for a reason," she said. "I'm sure Bailey would agree that the best person to objectively perform a Nuero exam is probably not his wife."

"You mean the way she agreed to his **ex**-wife objectively performing a Cardiac procedure?" Amelia shot back. She shook her head, disgusted. "I'll be about a half hour. You should wait somewhere else."

She effectively ended the conversation by stepping into the closing the door behind her.

* * *

"I've been talking to April," Jackson was saying to Alex as they walked down a corridor toward the ER. " She thinks one of us should call Hunt's mom. "

Alex made a face. "Dude, let her have that job, " he said. "I know that if my mom-"

He suddenly realized that Jackson had stopped walking and was staring down the hallway they had just passed.

* * *

Seeing Helm standing in the middle of the hallway they passed made him abruptly stop. He saw a look of fear on her face and someone almost pushing up against her.

When he got a glimpse of a knife, Jackson acted without thinking.

He took off running down the hall and rushed the stranger from behind. Helm gasped and moved out of the way just in time to prevent them from taking her down with them.

Jackson tackled the man and grabbed the hand holding the knife. The man landed hard but tried to swipe at him with the weapon. He dodged quickly.

Alex appeared a moment later and got the man into a headlock.

"You're going to want to stop," he warned as the man started to struggle. "I wrestled in college...trust me, I know how to hurt you."

For his credit, the man stopped. Jackson pushed the knife away with his foot.

"Call Security," he told Helm. He stared at the man with a sudden look of cold fury and got close to his face. "I'm betting you're the asshole that stabbed my friend outside. You're lucky we don't send you out of here on a stretcher first."

The man didn't reply but narrowed his eyes. Jackson glared at him.

* * *

Amelia lifted Owen's eyelid and shone her penlight into his eye. She was relieved to see his pupil dilate normally. She repeated with the other eye, with the same result.

She swallowed nervously, stepping back. She wasn't looking forward to what she had to do next.

"I'm sorry, Owen," she said quietly. She paused a minute and gently took his hand, rubbing his fingers. "If you can hear me."

She let go of his hand and began testing his reactions to pain. His responses were appropriate, but still painful to watch. When she finished, she updated his chart and kissed him on the cheek.

* * *

Cristina, Amelia, and Teddy all managed to avoid each other over the next two days. Teddy and Amelia found ways to see him discreetly during the day while Cristina waited until the floor was deserted late each night. Meredith was usually in charge of the ICU at night and always let Cristina in.

Owen's vitals drastically began to improve by the third day in ICU. April and Maggie were the primary doctors of his care and both felt comfortable enough with his progress to wean him from the Ecmo machine. He had been slowly starting to remain conscious for longer periods of time, but he was still so weak from the trauma and surgeries that he had yet to be coherent.

Each night, Cristina sat in the dark next to him and watched him. The medication and sedatives were strongest then and he remained in a tight grip of sleep, unaware.

Which suited her just fine. She was nervous to see him awake and she didn't know exactly why.

Was it because of her confession to Meredith? She **did** still love him. She had no problem admitting that. Her tender feeling toward him was as fierce as ever, even after five years apart, but that wasn't new. What was new was the lingering sensation of uncertainty that she hadn't felt since leaving Seattle.

_Am I still __**in**__ love with him?_

He had called their relationship "beautiful" at the same moment that they had been signing divorce papers, which in itself had spoken volumes about just how dysfunctional they had been. It seemed like no matter how often they tried, the two of them hadn't been able to stop tearing at each other's core beings while trying to exist together.

But she was drawn to him and had been since the moment she saw him. He was a beautiful contradiction, effortlessly strong and achingly broken at the same time. It had both surprised and humbled her each time she witnessed just how much comfort he had taken from her when he was struggling.

She had encouraged him to move on from her, pushed it even. But a part of her, one she only allowed herself to engage with when she was completely alone, couldn't bear to actually see it. The longer she stayed near him, the bigger it became, and she didn't know what to do.

So she just sat in the dark. And occasionally, when she leaned forward to stroke his forehead, allowed herself to think about it.

* * *

The first time that Owen came back into awareness was four days after surgery.

It wasn't pretty and it wasn't peaceful.

His brain immediately registered that something was in his throat. He lifted his arm to reach for the tube and a pain like fire rippled down his side.

He panicked, which made it more difficult to breathe, and then panicked even more. His pulse raced and his heart rate spiked.

The beeping caught Meredith's attention from where she was checking a patient in the next room. She hurried in to Owen's room. She eyed the monitors in concern, seeing him thrashing.

"It's alright, Owen," she said, checking his pulse. "Try not to move."

If he heard her, he didn't show it. He started to retch from struggling against the tube in his throat.

Meredith reacted instinctively. She knew she had to get his focus before he would stop.

"Ok," she quickly said. She picked up his hand and gripped firmly. "Owen, squeeze my hand. I want you to squeeze my hand."

He continued to struggle for a minute until the pressure on his hand suddenly became the center of his sensations. He gulped several times, hearing her clearly and easily recognizing her once it had his attention.

_Meredith_.

"There you go," she continued, feeling him finally return the grip. "Good. Just breathe and keep squeezing, alright?"

She stood and allowed him to keep the grip while watching his heart rate slow. He took a deep breath. She looked questioningly into his eyes. He nodded and let go of her hand.

"Do you know where you are?" she asked.

Owen looked around him tiredly. His energy was rapidly waning. He managed to nod before his eyes slid closed again.

* * *

April came in a few hours later and immediately knew something was wrong when she saw him. He was paler than before and she saw a sheen of sweat on his face.

She took his temperature worriedly and discovered it was at 103.

She checked the laparatomy incision. It was an angry red and he flinched when she probed at it.

She paged a nurse. Teddy happened to come in at that moment to see how he was. April's expression instantly had her on alert.

"What happened?" she asked.

The nurse appeared and April spoke to her first.

"I'm going to need a round of antibiotics for cellulitis," she said.

"He's allergic to penicillin," Teddy immediately cut in, speaking without thinking.

April glanced at her. She knew that, it was written in his chart.

"400 milligrams of Clindamycin, please," she continued.

"Yes, Doctor, " the nurse replied.

Teddy was looking down at him worriedly. She checked the incision herself.

* * *

Teddy stayed close throughout the day as his fever raged. He woke a few rimes incoherently but mostly slept through the continued doses of antibiotics.

The cellulitis looked superficial and she was grateful.

Every so often, movement outside would catch her attention and she would look to see Cristina watching. But she always left quickly when Teddy saw her and never came inside.

* * *

Around midnight, Teddy finally left his room. Cristina stood around the corner and watched her disappear before slipping quietly inside.

Owen slept fitfully. She glanced at his chart. He still had a fever.

He was tossing his head restlessly and moaning. She could see him shivering. She laid her hand across his burning forehead.

His eyes suddenly opened and drearily tried to focus.

She could hear his teeth chattering. He was feebly attempting to curl into a ball, his body racked with chills.

He looked so miserable that it hurt her heart.

"It's ok," she said, bringing her hand down to his cheek gently. "Shh...it's alright."

The tube prevented him from speaking and he whimpered again miserably. His head fell back tiredly.

She made a quick decision, unable to bear seeing him suffering. She toed off her shoes and gently slid onto the bed beside him.

She draped her arms around him and began rubbing circles around his shoulders, quietly shushing him.

He turned against her, burying his face against her neck.

"I've got you," she said softly. She stroked the back of his neck. " I'm here, baby. Everything's ok. "

She wasn't sure if he knew what was happening, but he didn't move away.

Neither did she.


	6. Chapter 6

_Crouched low in the dark fingering his pistol, he knew that they were terribly outnumbered. He couldn't see a thing except for the flash each time a grenade exploded, but he could hear them zinging through the air. _

_Endless carnage was all around him, bodies burning with fire, and agonized pleas for help in every direction. He needed to get to them._

_But he was frozen with fear. He was so tense that his shoulders were twitching. _

_Then it happened. He heard the whoosh, felt the thump next to his feet._

* * *

Owen had fallen into deep sleep against her and Cristina had dozed off after a few minutes too. It might have been for hours or just a little while. She hadn't a clue.

When he screamed, she jolted awake like she had been shot out of a cannon.

She couldn't have forgotten the sound of his nightmares if her life depended on it. But she hadn't heard this level of terror in almost 10 years and it shook her.

Usually he woke himself up. But this time, with the combination of medication and fever, he couldn't.

He screamed again. And again.

She swiftly dropped to her feet on the floor and come to his side carefully. The last thing she wanted was for him to wake up swinging and hurt himself or her.

"Owen,"she said, stroking his face. "Wake up. Wake up."

He startled awake and lay still, trembling, until awareness seeped back in. He breathed hard in relief.

He suddenly sensed someone standing in the side of his view. When he turned his face, what he saw made him think for a moment he was still dreaming.

"Cristina?" His voice was hoarse and shocked. "You're...you're here."

* * *

Cristina frowned at the disbelief she heard in his tone.

"Of course I'm here," she said. "I was worried. I came as soon as Meredith called me." He was looking at her warily. She raised her eyebrows. "You 're surprised?"

He looked abashed. "Kind of. I haven't heard from you since you went to Switzerland."

She looked skeptical. Her voice was slightly defensive. "Well, I haven't heard from you either, Owen."

He couldn't look at her. His next words were so quiet that she almost didn't hear them.

"I assumed you wanted to forget me."

She almost guffawed, she was so shocked.

"Seriously?" she said, more edgily than she intended. He just shrugged slightly. She shook her head. "You got **married**. You moved on, pretty effortlessly by the looks of it...and **I** wanted to forget **you**?"

The sound of the heart monitor suddenly beeping loudly startled them both. She looked immediately at the numbers.

"You need to relax," she said. " Your heart rate is elevating. " She shook her head again, moving toward the door. "Look, maybe I should just go. I'm obviously upsetting you."

"No!"

Her words sent a surge of panic through him. He knew her. If she left, she wouldn't be back.

Owen sat up fast, reaching his hand toward her without thinking. Pain stabbed his side, catching him by surprise, and he doubled over with a gasp. He moaned when instead of easing it just got worse.

Grimacing, Cristina came back over to him.

"Calm down," she said. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Concentrate on your breathing." She bit her lip as he heaved. "You need me to get some oxygen in here?"

He shook his head. He managed to get into a position that was slightly less painful and dragged in a few deeper breaths.

"Don't leave," he said desperately. "Please, Cristina. Please."

She looked into his pleading eyes, already softening. She could never deny him when he looked at her that way. She sighed softly.

"Alright," she said. She let him take her hand and squeeze tightly. "I'm not going anywhere. Just breathe." She rubbed his knuckles.

He seemed to almost sag with relief. He tugged her closer and she wrapped her free arm around his shoulder, hugging him against her side.

His breathing slowed. He closed his eyes into her sweater and inhaled the familiar scent of her favorite body lotion. It made his heart ache.

"I love you. I've always loved you," he said. "It's not the same with Amelia. It could never be the same."

His words were starting to slur. She stroked his hair.

" You need to rest," she said. "We can talk later." He made a noise of protest and she ran her hand down his neck. "I won't leave, Owen. I promise."

He didn't seem like he planned to let go of her. She sat down on the bed and then scooted back beside him. He sighed contently, his eyes sliding closed when she felt his forehead again.

* * *

Meredith came in to check his vitals twice through the night. She was surprised the first time she walked in and saw Cristina curled up next to him while they both slept, but was careful not to wake either of them.

However, she knew her friend wouldn't want anyone else to see her there. At 4 am, she went in and gently shook Cristina's shoulder.

Cristina woke immediately. Meredith didn't miss the way she instantly looked toward Owen, thinking he had awakened her.

"Hey," Meredith said quietly. Cristina looked over at her, sitting up quickly. "Rounds are going to be starting in a half hour."

Cristina nodded. She gingerly slipped out from against Owen. She stretched, yawning, and walked out of the room with Meredith.

"I'm going to get coffee," she said. "You want some?"

Meredith nodded. "Sure," she replied. " Thanks. "

Cristina headed off down the hall. She stopped on her way and stepped into the ladies room.

* * *

Teddy was making her way toward the ICU when she felt the nausea come. She changed direction fast, hurrying into the nearest bathroom.

A few minutes later, she exited a stall, swallowing hard and wiping her mouth. April stood at one of the sink washing her hands. She grimaced sympathetically as Teddy stepped up beside her.

"My pregnancy with Harriet was horrible," she said. " I had morning sickness for almost 4 months. "

Teddy groaned. "Oh, God," she said. " I hope it doesn't last that long. "

April patted her shoulder. "Hang in there."

She walked out of the restroom. Teddy fished a peppermint from her pocket. As she was washing her hands, one of the stall doors opened.

Her stomach dropped when Cristina stepped out.

Cristina silently washed her hands, avoiding Teddy's gaze. There was no use pretending she hadn't heard.

"Cristina-" Teddy began weakly.

"I...wasn't trying to eavesdrop," she replied uncomfortably. She dried her hands quickly and hurried to leave. "Sorry."

"It's Owen's," Teddy blurted out as she was opening the door.

She froze, her breath catching like she had been sucker punched. Teddy swallowed, approaching her.

"He doesn't know," Teddy went on. She felt tears in her eyes and blinked fast. "It's...it's why I came. To tell him."

A million questions were swirling through Cristina's head. But instead of voicing them, she just shook her head and walked out.

* * *

Owen blinked tiredly as he was woken up by Meredith entering the room.

"Good morning," she said with a smile. He offered her a weak smile in return. His chest was starting to ache. "Ready for rounds?"

He grimaced. He knew it was necessary, but he still hated being exposed in a hospital bed in front of people he worked with. It was humiliating.

Most, if not all, of the other attendings had been in a similar position at some point or other and were easier to handle seeing him vulnerable. Some of the interns, on the other hand, tended to look at like a zoo exhibit.

Meredith, in particular, knew more than most of them how it felt to be a patient. Of all of his colleagues, she was the one who stayed most professional during rounds, something he was immensely grateful for.

She looked at him sympathetically. "I'll make sure it's quick," she said. She moved her stethoscope toward his chest and gestured the interns in. "Parker, present."

Casey Parker looked down at the chart he held. "Doctor Owen Hunt," he said. "Four days post-thorocostomy and laparotomy for traumatic chest and abdominal wounds."

His chest was burning now. He tried to shift position.

"What are the optimal vital sign ranges?" she went on.

She gestured to another intern. He started speaking. But Owen was starting to realize something wasn't feeling right.

"I...I can't..."

Meredith was startled when Owen suddenly started struggling to take a breath. His eyes were wide with panic.

"-Breathe" he wheezed out. "I ca-"

His vision was blurring rapidly and he could barely get the words out. The monitor started to beep rapidly as his oxygen levels and blood pressure plummeted.

_Oh, God. Oh, God, I'm suffocating._

Perhaps even more than when he was stabbed, Owen felt pure terror.

"I need an endo trach tube and laryngoscope," Meredith said quickly.

One of the interns hurried to get it as she began lowering the head of the bed. As she moved the pillow he was on, Owen used all of his strength to grip Meredith's arm, catching her off guard. She looked at him in alarm.

He was almost turning blue but still trying desperately to speak. He sucked in a breath feebly.

"Where's...Cristina?" he managed to croak.

Then he lost consciousness.


	7. Chapter 7

"Cristina," Teddy called after her, hurrying to catch up. " Cristina, wait. "

She kept walking.

She needed to get away. Away from the ICU, away from this place that she no longer recognized, and away from an Owen that she no longer knew anymore. He was alive and that was all that mattered. She could go back to Switzerland.

"I want to explain," Teddy went on, catching her arm gently. "Please."

Cristina abruptly turned to face her.

"You don't owe me an explanation," she said woodenly. "You've always been in love with him and he wants kids. It's good." She nodded unconvincingly, quirking her brow. "Shepherd might have something to say about it, but obviously you three have **something** going on."

She turned away again. "I'm leaving. Congratulations to you both."

Teddy opened her mouth to speak again. But suddenly they were interrupted by the hospital loudspeaker calling a code.

"Code Blue, ICU room 3. Code blue, ICU room 3."

Cristina's heart went to her throat.

Teddy paled. "Shit. "

The two of them ran down the hallway toward his room. When they got there, the room was crowded with nurses and interns.

Cristina's eyes widened at the sight that greeted them. Owen was lying prone, unconscious and intubated with Meredith squeezing an ambu bag.

"What happened?" she asked frantically.

Meredith looked over at her as she squeezed the bag.

"He stopped breathing in the middle of rounds," she said. "I'm thinking a possible PE in the lung. We're going to have to go back in and open him up."

"We'll scrub in and assist," Teddy immediately said.

She didn't bother asking Cristina or Meredith if it was alright. She didn't have to.

Meredith nodded. "Page Kepner and Pierce to meet us in the OR."

* * *

Cristina and Teddy stood side by side silently scrubbing as Owen was being prepped for surgery. They avoided looking at each other.

Teddy reached for a mask.

"Did Owen ever tell you about his sister?" she asked quietly.

Cristina was shocked into stillness at her words. Teddy turned to look at her grimly.

"We were all in Iraq together 11 years ago," she went on. "And one day, after Owen and Megan finished a surgery, he told her to accompany the patient on the helicopter. And then...the helicopter vanished."

Cristina swallowed, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"All that time Owen blamed himself, thinking he had killed her. And then suddenly we found out she was alive and he fell apart." Teddy shook her head. "He called me and I came when she was transferred here."

Her voice became hard. Cristina watched anger cloud her eyes.

"And Amelia? Once Megan got here, Amelia disappeared. She left him completely alone to deal with everything," she went on bitterly. Kind of like she is right now. And it killed him. He had a complete breakdown while Megan was in surgery and his **wife** was nowhere around. "

She looked at Cristina with a steely gaze.

"When I left here, I told Owen to fight for you," she said. " And I don't even have to ask you if he did. Owen fights for everyone. He does everything, for everyone, always because he is that kind of man. So when is it going to be his turn? When is someone going to fight for **him**, Cristina? "

She angrily got ready to step through the doors. Then she turned back.

"He is my best friend in the world, " she said. "I didn't plan this. But I will do all of it to give him this child, no matter how it turns out. But I know him, Cristina. He will choose you every time because he is still in love with you. He deserves you to fight for him too."

She disappeared into the operating room. Cristina shook herself. She had to focus.

* * *

When they got started, the issue became apparent quickly. The laparotomy incision was infected worse than they had thought and had caused a blood clot to travel to his lung, which was still healing and too weak to handle it. He went back into the ICU, this time sedated and breathing with a ventilator.

Cristina sat next to his bed, no longer caring who saw her.

"I would never want to forget you," she said softly, holding his lax hand in hers. "I haven't stopped loving you just because we've been apart, Owen. "

She bit her lip and gently brushed her hand across his forehead.

"Just...just wake up," she whispered desperately. " Ok? Wake up so I can tell you that. "

She heard soft footsteps coming in and knew without turning around who it was. Meredith slipped quietly inside. Her shift was over but she was on-call. She pulled up a chair next to Cristina and didn't speak.

Cristina sighed heavily.

"What do I do here, Mer?" she whispered in anguish. She glanced at her friend in desperation. "Zurich is my dream. My **dream**. These past five years have been what I've been waiting for my entire career."

Then she gently fingered through Owen's hair.

"But I can't leave him again." She looked tearfully at Meredith. " Not now. I couldn't take it." She shook her head. "But now Teddy-" She rubbed her left temple. "This is so screwed up."

Meredith smiled gently. "When have we ever been **not** screwed up?" she said. She raised her eyebrows. "You and I are kind of experts at it. "

Cristina was silent for a minute.

"He wants a baby, " she said quietly. "Once he finds out Teddy is pregnant, he'll drop everything to be with her. I know he will."

When she got no response from Meredith, Cristina glanced at her. Meredith was looking thoughtful.

" I don't know about that. " Meredith said.

Cristina looked at her incredulously.

"I've gotten to know Owen a lot better since you left," she went on. "I do think he'll drop everything...to be a **Dad**. Not necessarily to be with Teddy."

Her pager went off. She grimaced, looking at it.

"I've got to go," she said, standing up.

Her friend still looked devastated. She walked over and laid a hand on Cristina's shoulder.

"You told me not to let what Derek wanted eclipse what I needed," she said. "You were right. Because what I needed was **him**. Once I knew that, it was easy to figure out how to make the rest work."

With a squeeze on her shoulder, Meredith left. Cristina blew through her cheeks.

* * *

Amelia had performed a craniotomy that took almost 20 hours to complete and then collapsed into the first empty on-call room she found. She slept like a rock for 7 hours and then blearily stumbled out in search of caffeine and food.

She approached the nearest coffee cart.

"Large black coffee and a chocolate muffin," she said tiredly, digging out some cash from her pocket.

She leaned tiredly against the counter to wait for her order.

After a minute, she got the uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched. She turned her head.

Teddy was walking toward her with a dark glare.

"Where have you been?" Teddy demanded angrily as soon as she was in earshot.

Amelia was immediately defensive. "What?"

"Did you know that Owen threw a blood clot yesterday morning?" Teddy said.

She paled.

"No," she said in shock. "Is he ok?"

Teddy looked at her in disgust.

"He stopped breathing, " she said. "We had to do emergency surgery to remove it." Seeing Amelia's eyes tear up suddenly infuriated her. "He almost died, Amelia. He's almost died twice in the last five days and you've been AWOL. What the hell is wrong with you? "

Amelia looked at her darkly.

"I had a surgery," she said. " I was in there all day."

She swallowed hard.

"I try to see him whenever I can, but you and Cristina have both made it obvious that I am not exactly welcome. " She shook her head. "I don't know what I ever did to you, but I'm not going to stick around when you guys are there."

Teddy looked at her incredulously.

"You can't seriously be that dense," she said.

At Amelia's uncomprehending look, she sneered angrily.

"You're right. You're not welcome and you want to know why? Because you promised to be there for Owen when you married him and then you screwed him over when he needed you."

Teddy was so angry that she was almost shaking.

"I had to advocate for him during the entire situation with Megan. To you. His wife! It killed me to see you not care about him then and I'll be **damned** if I'll let you do it again now."

Amelia's eyes flew wide in disbelief at her words. Then she narrowed her eyes.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Altman, " she said darkly. "He cried in my arms for over an hour the day he found out she was alive."

The words were like a punch to Teddy's stomach.

"I arranged to have her transferred," Amelia went on. "I drove him 12 hours to see her. I stood on the damn helipad with him. I did everything possible to make **sure** he got what he needed."

The barista called out her order, interrupting the tension. Amelia whirled around and grabbed her items. She strode back toward Teddy.

"Don't you dare tell me I don't care about him," she said angrily. " Don't you **dare**. "

She stalked away, leaving Teddy standing there.

* * *

Cristina stretched her back and shook out her shoulders. It had been a few hours and she had kept herself busy as she sat by Owen's bed, texting back and forth with Shane Ross with updates on one of her latest cases. Still, she was going a little stir crazy. She decided to go outside for a walk in the fresh air to clear her head a bit.

She leaned over to put her phone into her purse and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Amelia out of the corner of her eye, standing silently just inside the door.

"Geez!" she breathed, startling. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

Amelia looked at her for a minute.

"Sorry," she said apprehensively.

They stared at each other uncomfortably. Finally, Cristina shrugged.

"You can come in, you know," she told Amelia evenly.

Amelia hesitated a minute and then crossed across the floor toward the side of the bed opposite Cristina. Cristina stood up as she passed, stretching again and grabbing her purse to go outside.

"You don't have to leave," Amelia blurted out. Cristina looked at her in surprise and her face got warm. "I mean...you can if you want. But you don't have to leave because of me."

Cristina got ready to say that she had planned to go anyway. But something stopped her and, against her better judgment, she sat back down.

She stared at Amelia without speaking. Amelia looked away uncomfortably, raking her gaze over Owen.

"How is he?" she quietly asked.

She half-expected Cristina not to answer.

"He's been stable since the surgery yesterday," Cristina said. " Kepner wants to wait until he wakes up to try and take him off the vent again."

Amelia winced. "Teddy said he had a blood clot."

She nodded. "Most likely from the laporatomy getting infected."

"I was doing a surgery," Amelia said quietly. " I didn't know. "

She met Cristina's piercing gaze for a minute and looked away just as quickly. "I'm sure you don't like me. I know Teddy doesn't. I...seem to get that from a lot of people."

Cristina kept her voice indifferent. "I don't know you. Frankly, I've never given you much thought."

The words stung and Amelia was certain it was intentional. She raised an eyebrow, deciding take the bait.

"Until I married him, you mean," she said. " Right? "

For her part, Cristina's gaze didn't waver. They stared right at each other in almost a standoff until Amelia looked away.

"I don't really blame you," she went on. Her voice took on an air of edgy amusement. "Derek used to call me a 'time bomb.' Pretty accurate. My mouth rarely waits for my brain to tell it to shut up. So...I get it. I'm not easy to like."

She smiled suddenly.

"Sometimes I would wonder whether Owen had blinders on or was just a sucker for punishment." Her eyes shone as she gently traced the back of his hand with her fingers. "Because no matter how much I pushed, he just kept loving me. And I realized I love him too. I love the **hell** out of him. "

Silence met her ears.

"Me, too," Cristina said after a minute. "It's impossible not to."

Amelia turned to look at her square in the face.

"In case no one has told you, you should know Owen and I ended our marriage," she said.

Cristina couldn't hide her reaction of surprise.

"It wasn't an angry decision, or a bitter one," she went on. " Turns out, we Shepherds apparently are so into brain tumors that I got one of my very own. Once it was out, we both realized that it was the reason we had been having so many issues being together. I love him...but I wanted him to have the chance to be with someone who would love him unconditionally. He deserves that. "

Cristina looked away and down into Owen's face.

"Yes," she agreed quietly. " He does. "

They were both quiet a minute. Then Cristina looked at Amelia.

"Thank you," she said. Amelia raised her eyebrows questioningly. "When I left, I was scared. I was afraid he would spiral, or self-destruct, or work himself to death with no one to pull him out of it. You gave him a place to land. I want you to know...I am grateful for that."

Amelia swallowed hard and nodded. She managed a watery smile.

The monitors suddenly began beeping. They both were startled.

* * *

He became aware of voices and struggled to open his eyes. They felt like they weighed a thousand pounds.

Then suddenly he felt nothing except a searing burn in his throat. Something was jammed there. It was pure agony and he needed it gone. He lifted his hand to remove it.

Someone gripped his wrist, preventing him from reaching it. He grunted and then gagged.

"Easy." A soft hand stroked across his forehead. "Don't fight it. Try and relax."

The foggy haze began clearing. He recognized Cristina's voice before he finally managed to get his eyes fully opened.

"I'll go get April."

His eyes darted over in surprise when Amelia spoke from his other side. She smiled tenderly before walking out. Owen looked back at Cristina, wincing painfully.

"Welcome back," she said, brushing her fingers through his hair.

The touch was welcome and felt good. He closed his eyes and hummed contentedly. She smiled, keeping it up.

"Good to see you awake!" April said brightly, coming into the room, followed by Amelia. Cristina moved away to let her come to his side. She looked at the monitors. "Your stats look good...let's see how you do breathing on your own."

She got closer. "Take a deep breath," she instructed. " Ready? "

He nodded. She gently began removing the tube. Cristina winced as he gagged and then retched.

"Breathe," she said.

April finished taking out the tube. He rubbed his throat with a groan.

"I'll be right back," April said, carrying the plastic cover and tube out of the room.

Amelia came over and handed him a cup full of ice chips. He smiled gratefully as he took it from her.

"Thanks," he croaked hoarsely.

Her pager sounded. She grabbed it. "They need me in the ER," she said, reading the code.

She sounded apologetic. Owen swallowed a mouthful of ice and shook his head.

"It's ok," he said, smiling again. " Go. I'm not going anywhere. "

She squeezed his hand before hurrying out of the room. He scooped up more ice and then turned his gaze to where Cristina stood silently, watching him.

He took a deep breath.

"Cristina-" he began.

She surprised him by holding her palm up and interrupting.

"No, wait," she said quickly. "Let me say something."

He raised his eyebrows, intrigued, and stopped. She swallowed and stepped up close to his side.

"I know things are a mess," she began. "And there a million good reasons why we are better off staying the way we are." She shook her head. " But-Owen, you almost died this week. **Twice**. "

Her voice broke. His brow furrowed sympathetically and he reached for her hand. She smiled tearfully and cleared her throat.

"My career is thriving. I have everything I've ever wanted. But the moment I heard you were hurt...it was like time stopped," she continued. "The thought of living in a world without you in it was worse than anything I've ever experienced."

She squeezed his hand and placed her free one on his cheek.

"I haven't stopped loving you, Owen. I couldn't," she said. "And I can't go back to Switzerland without telling you. I thought I couldn't live without my work, but I was wrong. I can survive that. I can't survive without you. "

His eyes widened, realizing what she was saying.

"You mean...you want to try again?" he asked hesitantly. "With me?"

Instead of replying, Cristina leaned closer and gently pulled him into a tender kiss that she allowed to linger. He let out a breathy chuckle when they broke apart, staring into her dancing eyes.

"If I'd known that's all it took to get you back, I would've acted a lot more recklessly these last 5 years," he said mischievously.

* * *

On her way down to the ER, Amelia crossed paths with Teddy.

Teddy looked abashed.

"Amelia," she said. " Look, I'm-"

"Don't worry about it," Amelia interrupted, waving her off. She raised an eyebrow. "You should go see Owen. He's awake."

Teddy looked surprised. Amelia continued on her way without another word.

* * *

Teddy wasn't expecting to see Owen sitting up and breathing without assistance. She broke into a huge smile.

"Oh, my God!" she said excitedly, striding across the room quickly.

She went right up to the bed and engulfed him in a hug. He seemed surprised as he returned the embrace. He looked at her in concern when she released her grip, seeing tears on her face.

"Hey," he said, rubbing her shoulder. "I'm ok. I'm ok, Teddy."

She sniffled and gave an embarrassed laugh.

"I know," she said. " You just scared me. "

He looked at her contritely.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. He looked at her and then Cristina. "I'm sorry to make you both come halfway across the world because of me."

Teddy shot Cristina an uncomfortable look. Owen didn't miss it.

"What?" he asked.

Cristina cleared her throat. "Um...I'm just going to let you guys talk."

Teddy stopped her. "No, stay," she said quickly. "It's fine."

Owen was looking suspicious.

"What is going on?" he said. " Why are you guys being weird? "

Taking a deep breath, Teddy smiled gently.

"Owen," she said. "I'm pregnant...with your baby."

If she wasn't able to see the oxygen saturation monitor beside the bed, Cristina would have sworn he stopped breathing yet again. He looked so shocked that it was almost comical.

"Are...you serious?" he finally managed to say. The shock gave way to a smile so wide that it nearly split his face. "Are you **serious**?!"

Teddy broke out laughing at his reaction. She nodded.

"When are you due?" he asked.

"In about 6 months," she replied.

Owen swallowed as the reality set in. "Are you coming to stay here?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"I...don't know about that," she said hesitantly. " Landstuhl is my perfect job. They have an excellent maternity leave program there...and paternity. "

His brows furrowed.

"You want me to go to Germany?" he said incredulously. "How exactly would that work, Teddy? I run the entire trauma department here. You think I could that in MEDCOM?"

Cristina watched the exchange silently, sensing both of them growing frustrated.

"We can work out joint custody," Teddy said. "You know I won't keep you from seeing your child, Owen."

"I want to **be** with my kid, Teddy!" he exploded. " Not just see it every month or so."

Teddy sighed and didn't reply. Owen looked torn.

"Come work for me," Cristina said suddenly after a minute.

Owen and Teddy both looked at her, startled. She raised her eyebrows.

"Serioiusly," she went on, looking at Teddy. "The cardiothoracic program is one of the best in the world. Or you and Owen can both head the trauma department."

Owen was looking at her like she was nuts.

"The Klausman Institute doesn't have a trauma department," he said doubtfully.

Cristina shrugged.

"So I'll start one," she said. "I run the place. I can make it happen."

His face softened and he reached his hand out toward her. She took it, rubbing his knuckles.

"I'm not going to ask you to rearrange your life for me," he said. " You and I will figure things out. So will Teddy and I. We'll find a way. "

"I think it's a good idea," Teddy said abruptly.

Owen looked surprised. She nodded.

"It works," she insisted. "My senior officer at MEDCOM is itching to take over and he would have to once I have the baby anyway. Neither of us would have to sacrifice time with it once it's born."

Both women looked at Owen, their minds obviously made up. But he still looked doubtful.

"You don't want to be a mom, Cristina," he said uncertainly. "I can't force that on you now."

She shook her head.

"I **don't** want to be a mom," she agreed. "That doesn't mean you can't be a dad."

He looked at her warily.

"What? I'm not a child-hating monster. I don't have to birth a human to like them. **Someone** is going to have to save the poor kid from being put in an Army uniform the minute it comes out. " She shrugged. "I can teach it the proper technique when it tries the first cigarette away from you two hard asses."

Owen smiled, looking at Teddy.

"You really think this could work?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Only one way to find out."

Cristina was almost knocked off balance when Owen suddenly pulled her down and kissed her breathless. The happiness radiating from his face was dizzying.

"Thank you," he said, cupping her face. He smiled widely again and kissed her once more. " Thank you, Cristina. "

Teddy watched them with a soft smile. Owen moved so he was looking at her.

"You, too," he said seriously. He shook his head like he couldn't believe it. "Teddy, you're giving me everything I've ever wanted. You amaze me."

She grinned. "We'll see if you're still saying that when I'm hopped up on drugs, yelling at you in the delivery room."

He yawned then, unable to help it. He still felt incredibly weak and was trying to hide it.

Cristina smiled, seeing through his act easily.

"I'm going to go make some calls," she said. "You need to rest."

He got ready to protest. They both fixed him with stern looks and he rolled his eyes.

"What am I getting myself into?" he groaned jokingly as they both left, settling back against the pillow

* * *

Owen's room was considerably more crowded when Amelia made her way back to see him a few hours later. Almost every attending in the hospital was circled around his bed along with a few nurses and interns near the doorway.

It warmed her heart to see him animatedly laughing. Several other colleagues shuffled in for a moment to tell him congratulations and good luck. She looked at them in confusion.

"Hey," she said, catching Arizona as she was walking out. "What's going on? What is everyone congratulating? "

Arizona smiled. "Owen and Teddy are going to work with Cristina in Switzerland."

Amelia felt her stomach momentarily drop. She quickly plastered on a smile.

Swallowing hard, she slipped quickly back out before he noticed her.

* * *

Owen was overwhelmed by the number of people who stopped by to see him. Bailey wasn't thrilled when she found out his plan to resign, but wished him good luck anyway.

As people began dispersing, he caught sight of someone he wanted to make sure he spoke to.

"Hey-Avery!" he called out, catching Jackson by surprise. " Hold up a second, will you? "

Owen looked at him seriously as he approached.

"I want to thank you," he said. Jackson looked surprised. " I don't remember much about that night...but I do remember you being there. You kept me calm when I was freaking out. " He cleared his throat against a sudden rush of emotion. "It made a big difference. Thank you."

He held his hand out. Jackson blinked rapidly and quickly averted his eyes until he was composed. He gripped Owen's hand in a strong hold and then clapped his shoulder.

"Anytime," he replied. He let go of Owen and grinned. "I heard you're going to be a dad." Owen's answering smile was proud. "Call me if you ever need any advice. "

"I might take you up on that," Owen said.

April came into the room with Cristina behind her. Jackson smiled as he passed them on his way out. He was the last to leave.

The sudden quiet after so much commotion was slightly jarring. April smiled sympathetically at Owen's expression.

"You should take it easy," she said, looking at his chart. "Everything looks in order for you to be discharged in the morning, providing you don't strain yourself."

She looked at him knowingly. "But don't expect to just get up and walk out of here tomorrow. No exerting yourself and don't even think about getting on that plane until after I do your follow up appointment next month, got it?"

She ended her statement sternly and Cristina stifled a laugh.

"He won't," she said. " I'll make **sure** he won't. "

She fixed him with a teasing look. He rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, his face sobered. He looked past April and Cristina. Cristina looked behind them to see Amelia standing inside the door.

"Can you give us a minute?" he asked quietly.

They both left. Amelia avoided their gazes.

"Hey," he said softly.

She looked at him. Her eyes were teary.

"Hey," she replied in a choked voice.

Owen looked at her tenderly, holding his hand out toward her. She went to him without hesitation and wrapped him in a long hug.

"So it's true?" she said, pulling away slightly. " You're leaving. "

He nodded. "Yes," he replied. Swallowing hard, he struggled to speak around the lump in his throat. " Amelia...it's not because of you. Please believe that. What we had was real and I meant it. "

A tear slipped down her cheek and she quickly swiped at it. She bravely smiled, brushing his hair back with her fingers.

"I know," she said, nodding. "I meant it, too. I'll always love you. We're just...not meant to be together." She cupped his cheek and looked into his eyes. " You are a good man, Owen. I want you to be happy. "

She stepped back .

"I'm always here for you," she said. " You know that, right? "

He smiled. "Of course."

More tears fell. Owen wanted to reach for her again but Amelia moved away. She gave him a quick kiss.

"Goodbye, Owen," she said.

He blinked back his own tears.

"Goodbye, Amelia," he replied shakily.

She managed to make it out of the room before breaking down. She passed Cristina next to the nurses station.

"Take care of him," she whispered.

She kept walking without giving Cristina the chance to reply.

* * *

A few hours later, Cristina once again sat by the hospital bed, watching Owen sleep. It was a position that had become unfortunately familiar.

Except he was actually sleeping this time. There were no monitors. He was breathing strongly.

And in the morning, they would be leaving Together

Her life was going about to be completely turned upside down. A week ago, she would have laughed at the absurdity of the idea of ever seeing Owen again, let alone jumping back into a relationship and taking him back to Switzerland.

Owen sighed in his sleep. She smiled and stroked his face.

But they were different people now. With her position in Zurich and him about to have a child, they were both getting what they had always wanted.

And by finding their way back to each other, what they had always needed.

**The** **End**


End file.
